RIVERS bulged and flood defences were tested as rain battered the borough.

The downpours were accompanied by gale-force gusts last Thursday which saw huge waves crash over the breakwater in Porthcawl.

At Merthyr Mawr the River Ogmore swelled at the Dipping Bridge.

More torrential deluges all day on Saturday saw more than 30mm fall in parts of the borough.

Flash-flooding hit parts of the Vale of Glamorgan on Sunday as waterways struggled to cope.

Cars got stuck as many back lanes were impassable, while fields near Cwm Colhugh Beach, Llantwit Major, looked more like lakes.

Firefighters from Bridgend Station were called to Port Talbot on Sunday to provide cover for crews inundated with flooding calls, but crews said Bridgend fared better than expected, without any major flooding incidents.

A spokesman from Bridgend Station said: “We have been very, very lucky.”

First Great Western cancelled a number of trains between Bridgend and London on Monday due to flooding between Swindon and Bristol Parkway.

But forecasters said the worst of the wet weather had now passed for the time being, with drier, colder weather set to continue into the early part of the weekend.